Durin's Diary

Chapter 1042 Treating Others Well

Chen Xiaohu's rabbit-head secretary was perfectly fine, but he was fine because he took the day off. Presumably, it was impossible for the Great Wall to fly over from the overpass more than 700 meters away from his building and knock this cunning rabbit into the intensive care unit.

This made Chen Xiaohu very sad—he couldn't take leave, so he was already on edge while driving to work, but who would have thought that the military transport team would suddenly lose control and crash into his vehicle.

The emperor listened to the whole story and sighed softly, "You've had a hard time."

After Chen Xiaohu left, he looked at the newspaper again and finally asked the guards to summon Prime Minister Lin.

Nobody knew that the Beijing Times was under the name of Prime Minister Lin, except for that old codger.

However, the eunuch quickly returned and told him that Prime Minister Lin had drunk too much the night before and was unable to attend court today—in other words, the old prime minister, who had never asked for leave before, had to ask for leave from court today because he was still drunk.

"How did he get drunk?" In the emperor's memory, this prime minister seemed to have never been drunk before.

"It is said that last night at Xiangjianhuan, he ran into the relatives of Master Xiaolaor and Master Yan Zhenqing who were hosting a banquet for young Mr. Du Lin, and he went over to ask for a sip of wine."

"Asking for wine is not surprising to me, but I find it hard to believe that he can get this drunk from just one cup." The old emperor muttered to himself, then looked at his eunuch: "What kind of wine are they drinking?"

"I heard it was brought by Mr. Dulin's relatives, and they said it was some kind of dwarf spirit."

With a sigh, the old emperor felt relieved.

Dwarven spirits—this stuff is also available among the dwarves of the East. The dwarves drink it, but hospitals generally use it as a disinfectant.

It seems that it was not easy for Lin Xiangguo to survive.

………………

The proprietresses of Xiangjianhuan rarely saw the old man and Yan Zhenqing drinking so heartily—these two had invited Du Lin's grandfather from Xilu and his old brother, and the four old men had been drinking since daytime.

So much so that when Prime Minister Lin entered, they didn't notice him at first.

Only when the old man stood in front of the counter did they greet him warmly.

"What's wrong with the sisters? They're laughing and joking around." Lin Xiangguo pointed to a private room deep in the corridor.

"Young Master Dulin's relatives are here, as are this old man and Yan Zhenqing."

"Then I must go and ask for a drink," Lin Xiangguo replied with a smile.

This was his last memory from last night.

As the sun set, Prime Minister Lin woke up again and found himself somehow back home.

His grandson, sitting at the table, noticed that his grandfather had woken up and burst into tears—he ran out of the bedroom and called out to his grandfather in the hallway that he was awake.

Too noisy.

Lin Xiangguo muttered dissatisfaction as he sat up.

He tried hard to recall the events of the previous night, and finally he remembered that he had entered the private room, greeted several old acquaintances, and met two of Du Lin's elderly relatives—his grandfather and an old friend of his grandfather. Upon hearing that it was the Prime Minister, the two even filled their cups to the brim, saying they wanted to toast him.

Lin Xiangguo had drunk the Grassland Elf's wine, which was all fruit wine and had no strength at all.

And so they fell into the trap.

He drank that large glass of wine, and his only feeling was that the wine was really spicy.

Then he forgot everything that happened next.

At this moment, his wife walked into the bedroom. Looking at her husband lying on the bedside, she shook her head with some regret: "When the young men from Xiangjianhuan brought you back last night, I was already preparing for your funeral. You old man, how could you drink like that? Your old friends said you didn't drink with them. What happened?"

Faced with his wife's anger, Prime Minister Lin reluctantly recounted everything that had happened to him.

Hearing that the wine from the grassland spirits was very strong, the old lady, who was still quite angry, fell silent for a while, and then couldn't help but laugh: "If my old friend Xiangjianhuan hadn't come to explain to me personally, and if my old man hadn't personally brought me a pot of wine, I wouldn't have believed it was true."

“That liquor was really strong.” As Lin Xiangguo said this, he felt like he was starving: “I’m hungry, is there anything to eat?”

"The kitchen is preparing. You old codger, I don't know what happened today. His Majesty even sent Little Seven to visit you. I heard from the old ladies in the Golden Palace that His Majesty wanted to see you today, but you asked for leave."

"I only remember drinking a big glass, and then I can't remember anything else," Lin Xiangguo said helplessly.

His wife smiled and said, "Do you know what kind of wine you drank yesterday?"

"What kind of wine?"

“I had a dwarf chef from a nearby restaurant come and take a look. He said it was the perfect dwarf spirit, but considering its origin, it must have come from the Western Continent, and it’s stronger than the one from Changtang.” His wife couldn’t help but laugh as she said this: “You really are reckless.”

"No, how could those four guys drink so much? I heard they drank from day to night." Lin Xiangguo muttered to himself, rubbing his face with both hands.

“Which one of you, this old man or Yan Zhenqing, isn’t a wine connoisseur? You can drink with them for half a day, don’t you have any self-awareness?” His wife said, then sighed, “Today, I’ll take your word for it and give two portions of your tea to the guests from the Western Lands.”

"That's alright. He's a guest, and he's also an elder of Du Lin's family. There's no problem with what you're giving him." Lin Xiangguo didn't think there was any problem with this.

"The old man is shameless, so he asked for a share too."

"That damn bastard... Fine, he's Du Lin's elder, I'll let it go!!" Just thinking about how that old scoundrel actually had the nerve to ask him for tea, Lin Xiangguo felt his blood pressure skyrocketing. Even if Lin Xiangguo had no idea what happened last night, he could tell that the old scoundrel was behind it.

This wicked fellow actually used dwarven liquor to harm this real old man; his crimes are beyond description!

But after thinking about it, he decided against it. After all, the man was Du Lin's elder, and had served the country for so many years. Even if the old man asked for several times more tea, Lin Xiangguo felt he would still have to give it to him.

"By the way, what about Yan Zhenqing? Did he ask for tea?"

“He didn’t want any,” his wife said with a smile. “But he ate all the fruit and pastries that Dulin gave you.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiangguo collapsed onto the bed, feeling the world was so cold and he was so tired.

(End of this chapter)